Approvals committee – March 2011

1. Since the last Board meeting, our approval committee has met on 2 March, 14 March and 30 March 2011 to consider applications requiring approval of consultancy contracts over £20,000 and all external recruitment. One application was also considered by correspondence on 16 March 2011.

2. The cases considered are listed below:

| Meeting date | Ref: No. & directorate | Summary of application | Consultancy/ recruit | Committee Decision | |--------------|------------------------|------------------------|----------------------|--------------------| | 2 March 2011 | 92 RME | Contract extension – economist | Recruitment | Approved | | 2 March 2011 | 93 RME | Call off contract – economic advice £100,000 | Consultancy | Approved | | 2 March 2011 | 91 EA | Development of line managers' toolkit £6,600\* | Consultancy | Approved | | 14 March 2011| 95 RME | Appointment of temporary economist | Recruitment | Approved | | 30 March 2011| 98 RPP | HS1 data assurance review £30,000 | Consultancy | Approved | | 30 March 2011| 99 RME | Understanding consumer behaviour £50,000 | Consultancy | Approved | | 30 March 2011| 100 CS | Extension to FRISS Phase 2 consultancy £10,000 \*\* | Consultancy | Approved | | 30 March 2011| 101 CS | Temporary agency cover – post distribution | Recruitment | Approved | | 30 March 2011| 103 CS | IS interim manager | Recruitment | Approved | | Consideration by correspondence | | | | | | 16 March 2011| 96 RME | Extension to contract – secretary VfM study | Recruitment | Approved |

- This was referred to the committee because the original budget for the work was £17k and this additional request took the spend above the committee threshold of £20k.

3. The committee were also provided with details of any applications below £20,000 which are subject to approval by the director of corporate services. One application was approved at a cost of £18,000.